Hill cutting, levelling begin at Panvel airport site, Central bodies help

The development of land at the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport site has taken off, project implementing authority the City and Industrial Development Corporation said on Saturday. Hill cutting and leveling are being carried out under the supervision of Central agencies to ensure that locals and the people working at the site are not troubled, it said.

Prajakta Lavangare, joint managing director of CIDCO said that they have engaged the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad as Technical Advisor for blasting operation at Ulwe hill. "These are renowned central agencies and they have extensive knowledge on noise, vibration and visual impacts of blasting (controlled blasting & plasma blasting) operations," said Lavangare.

The land development in the core airport areas will be carried out on 1,161 ha. spanning nearly 6 km from east to west and 2.5 km from north to south. "Land development for the airport will be carried out in three parts," said a senior technical officer from CIDCO.

In the initial stage of land development, the Ulwe hill will be cut and reduced up to 8.00 mt and leveling work will be carried out in the remaining part using rock and earth fill material extracted from Ulwe hill. The remaining part will be levelled up to 5.5 metre.

Later, the 5.5-metre level will be raised to 8 metre only after laying various utility lines required for the airport. This will be taken up by concessionaire agency, Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (MIAL). The work is expected to be completed by December 2018.

The NMIA project kicked off after a delay of over a decade-and-a-half. The project will come up on 1,200 hectare of land and will involve an investment of Rs 16,500 crore. It will be implemented through a public-private-partnership mode with a concession of 40 years, which means the contractor can operate the airport for this period. The state granted approval for appointment of MIAL as concessionaire for NMIA. CIDCO which is nodal agency for developing the NMIA expects that the first phase of the airport will be ready by December 2018.

CUT AND LEVEL

• In the first stage of land development, the Ulwe hill will be cut and reduced up to 8 metres
   
• The remaining part will be levelled using rock and earth dug from the Ulwe hill 
   
• The project to come up on 1,200 hectares
   
• It is estimated to cost Rs 16,500 crore